"How many spots will there be in this 'Heavenly God Trial'?"

Southwest Region, Fourth Sanctuary, a lavish room.

Tian Qi sat in the main seat, while Bai Yi, Golden Lion, Mo Tian and several other senior members of the Fog Hidden Association sat below him.

Obviously, after the Isolation Mountain Range was cleared, the senior members of the Fog Hidden Association had gathered together.

But, compared to their confidence before the Heavenly God Trial, today their faces all looked worse than the last.

The reason was simple... the Heavenly God Trial was almost over, yet Tian Qi's ranking hadn't risen—in fact, it had dropped a little.

The current overall ranking in the Heavenly God Trial was: Zhao Ji first, Qiu Tu second, Shao Hua third, Doris fourth, and Tian Qi fifth.

This result, of course, couldn't satisfy Tian Qi, nor could it satisfy the members of the Fog Hidden Association.

But what's more important.... Just recently, Tian Qi had joined up with Qiu Tu and Zhao Ji to earn their trust.

Then Qiu Tu turned right around and played a trick on Tian Qi—just yesterday, Qiu Tu asked Tian Qi to give up his own ranking and merge under Zhao Ji's banner, using "guaranteeing Zhao Ji's position" as the excuse.

At first glance, this condition didn't seem problematic. But if you think deeper, something doesn't add up.

Zhao Ji is currently number one in the Heavenly God Trial—and with her astonishing combat power, she's probably way ahead.

And the second place is Qiu Tu, their own guy. How could they possibly need Tian Qi to give up his spot?

But now that Qiu Tu had already spoken, Tian Qi was cornered.

That's why he called this internal meeting of the Fog Hidden Association today: He wanted to brainstorm with his subordinates and figure out how many spots there would be in this Heavenly God Trial before making a decision.

If there were only 1–3 spots, then with his strength, it would be very hard to surpass Shao Hua; most likely he'd let it go and curry favor with Zhao Ji and Qiu Tu.

But if there were 5 spots, then with the chance to achieve Heavenly God, he really had to think carefully about whether to keep playing along.

After all, while Zhao Ji's favor was important, the temptation of becoming a Heavenly God wasn't light either.

He'd been stuck at this Realm for several hundred years, after all.

At this moment, after Tian Qi finished speaking, Golden Lion, the vice president who once held Qiu Tu hostage, stroked his chin, and then spoke in a raspy, gruff voice, "Normally, there's only 1 winner in the Heavenly God Trial. I remember the trials a few hundred years ago were all like that."

"After all, the Heavenly God is the most powerful and most exalted existence in the world. And each Heavenly God controls a separate pathway, so the number of Heavenly Gods is naturally limited."

"So I lean toward believing there will be just 1 spot in this Heavenly God Trial."

Hearing his words, before the other vice presidents could respond, Bai Yi shook his head and spoke up, "No way it's only 1."

Seeing Bai Yi had a different opinion, Tian Qi couldn't help but look over.

Bai Yi's expression remained extremely gentle, showing no aggression at all.

He said calmly, "Most of what Golden Lion said is true, but I need to point out: Our world hasn't held a Heavenly God Trial in hundreds of years, so the world's source might give compensation."

"I feel like it can't possibly be just 1. It's very likely there will be several—maybe even more than ten."

Hearing Bai Yi's guess, Tian Qi froze for a moment; his brow furrowed tightly.

Obviously, he thought Bai Yi's prediction was way too exaggerated; it practically sounded impossible.

He wasn't the only one who picked up on this, so before he even started to object, Golden Lion interjected sharply, "More than ten?"

"Bai Yi, you think Heavenly Gods are cabbages wholesale, hahaha."

Golden Lion laughed twice, then teased, "Bai Yi, why not say fifty? Give a spot to every participating Deity and save a few for our families."

Hearing Golden Lion's words, the other vice presidents also couldn't help but laugh along.

Faced with everyone's ridicule, Bai Yi didn't get angry; his smile stayed warm. "My theory may be a bit too wild."

"So let me cut it in half. I think even if there aren't ten Heavenly God slots, there'll be at least five, right?"

Hearing Bai Yi revise his estimate, the vice presidents hesitated, but still all shook their heads slightly.

Just now, Bai Yi's ten-slot prediction was too much; now, cutting it in half so casually made him sound unreliable again. His credibility took another big hit.

And whether it's five or ten, it's still way more than Golden Lion's guess of one spot.

This made the vice presidents raise more objections.

Mo Tian, father of Little Yaksha, shook his head, his yellow-brown face full of dissatisfaction. "Bai Yi, I don't think you're here to help the president—you're stirring the pot."

"Every previous Heavenly God Trial in our world only had one spot. You say five now—that's five times as many."

"And... this time, less than fifty people are taking part in the Heavenly God Trial. If five people become Heavenly Gods, that's one-tenth passing the test."

"That's basically giving them out for free."

With Mo Tian speaking up first, the other senior members also jumped in, refuting Bai Yi from all sides.

While arguing with Bai Yi, each of them also put forward their own guess.

But because Bai Yi's high guess got them all roasted, everyone else played it ultra-safe when making their own predictions.

Most people guessed one person, maybe two; the only one who said maybe three stacked up a bunch of caveats, clearly afraid of getting the same treatment as Bai Yi.

This made the whole discussion almost one-sided, everyone firmly believing there wouldn't be many Heavenly God slots in this Trial.

Sitting at the head, Tian Qi had watched the whole thing, and his brow never once relaxed....

Actually, his initial guess was similar to Bai Yi's—he also thought this time the Heavenly God Trial would offer more slots.

Not as many as Bai Yi's first guess of ten people, but... four or five seemed possible to him.

But who would've thought, after Bai Yi said that, he was mocked, and now everyone is convinced there won't be more spots in this Heavenly God Trial.

This made Tian Qi hesitate, too: "Could it be... I want to become a Heavenly God so badly, my subconscious hopes for more slots?"

'So... is my judgment clouded by personal bias?'

Even though something felt off, now that almost everyone had analyzed the situation and thought there wouldn't be more spots, Tian Qi felt himself being swayed.